The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago has launched 'A Call for Artifacts: The Black Community Archive', an initiative that asks Black families and communities to share the objects and stories they keep at home. The museum describes the project as a combination of documentation, oral history and digital archiving, intended to identify, record, interpret and preserve histories that might otherwise remain private.
Unlike a conventional collecting drive, the initiative does not ask people to give up their belongings: participants keep ownership and custody of their objects. Instead, the museum is interested in what the objects can tell, and in the people, places, memories and experiences attached to them.
The call is deliberately broad. The museum lists family heirlooms, artworks, photographs, letters and diaries, books and family Bibles, clothing and textiles, church and school materials, records of clubs and organisations, items from family businesses, political and activist material, music and performance memorabilia, awards and everyday objects, and it stresses that ordinary things with significant stories are welcome too.
The process begins with an online submission form that includes preliminary photographs. Museum staff then review the submissions and contact selected participants to arrange an appointment at The DuSable. There, depending on the object, staff may photograph or scan it, record names, dates, places, inscriptions and ownership history, carry out historical and curatorial research, and record the owner's account as an audio oral history or a video testimonial. The museum asks people not to bring, post or drop off objects without an appointment.
Selected stories may later be shared through The DuSable's website, the Bloomberg Connects app, social media and other digital platforms.
